Luxury Watches

The Audemars Piguet story began in the Vallee de Joux in 1875 it was then that watchmaker Jules Audemars and future partner Edward-August Piguet met. Both had learned the watchmaker's trade and had returned to the Vallee de Joux to find jobs in the local watch making industry.

Jules Audemars was soon producing raw components for movements and Edward-August Piguet sought employment as a "repasseur" (a master watchmaker who performs the final regulation on a watch). Not long after their first meeting the two talented watchmakers decided to form the partnership which is now known as Audemars Piguet

From the beginning, Audemars was in charge of production whilst his partner Piguet concentrated on sales. The partnership, however, was not an immediate success, indeed the Audemars Piguet trademark was not even registered until 1882, and the firm was not an official entity until 1889. From the start the partners decided to produce all of their components and assemble their watches in house. This of course meant that they were able to maintain extremely high standards and only products of the highest quality left their workshops. The last triumph for Audemars Piguet whilst he was alive was the development of an extremely complicated pocket watch, with tourbillion, minute repeater and perpetual calendar. The watch took 6 years continuous production to make and Audemars died in 1918.

Audemars Piguet has continued to remain at the forefront of watch making and is considered to be one of the big three along with Patek Phillippe and Vacheron Constantin. Their watches are still made in the old fashion way, assembled by hand and remain works of horological art.